25 January, 2010

Got stung yesterday

After the country holiday, we're having some days on the coast. First day at the beach and I got stung by something, presumably a jellyfish. I didn't see it, but it shocked me enough to knock me off my feet in below waist-height water. I hustled myself up to the first aid spot with the lifesavers and put ice on it for a while. I don't remember ever being stung before. It was nasty, but not as bad as a green ant bite and it faded within an hour or two, thankfully. Today we went to Australia Zoo. If you can swallow the overwhelming personality of Steve Irwin, which pervades much of the place, it is a wonderful zoo. Much better than either of the two we've seen in Japan. But maybe not quite up to Singapore Zoo...not sure. My legs are tired now, though. My head too. Keeping a track of the three boys all the time wasn't always easy. Especially when their paces differed. Our 10 y.o. tends to approach zoos (and many other things) at full pace and considers slowing down to others' pace a terrible hardship. I did get some cute shots of our boys with kangaroos and koalas, though. Nice, for part-time Aussie kids. Tomorrow? Australia Day. Not sure what we'll do. Watching cricket at least. Maybe try out some aircon at the local large shopping centre. Not sure how keen I am to hop back in the surf. The beaches will also be crowded for the public holiday. We try hard to avoid crowds (hard at times in Tokyo).

2 comments:

Mrs Q said...

I got stung by a bluebottle once and the lifesavers put vinegar on but it was only when the ex-hospital warden with us put ice on it that I got any pain relief. It took an hour or so though.

Ken Rolph said...

With The Warming many tropical species are moving south. This brings a lot of stingers into new areas where people have never encountered them before.

Bluebottles deliver a complex chemical into your skin. You can sometimes disrupt this with hot liquids. Presumably the vinegar is an attempt to also do this. The ice has a numbing effect on the nerves. So the best strategy is a hot wash then the ice.